In conventional optical networking, conventional optical fiber cables typically provide glass fiber and/or plastic threads as a medium by which light travels down the optical fiber cables. However, conventional optical networking typically relies on conventional optical fibers that are relatively thick in size due to glass fiber and/or plastic threads that have a diameter greater than one or two hundred micrometers, which in turn can act as a limiting factor to the amount of data traffic that can flow down a single conventional optical fiber cable. Moreover, communication providers may be limited in the distance with which each segment of conventional optical fiber can span due to physical geography, optical signal strength, and optical signal quality. Although light can be less susceptible to optical interference when traveling in a linear path, communication providers may not be able to always install straight (linear) segments of conventional optical fiber cables. Therefore, communication providers may be forced to curve the conventional optical fiber cable and/or install an optical node to continue communicative coupling. When conventional optical fiber cables are installed with curved portions, the light traveling along the conventional fiber cable must reflect off the sides of the conventional optical fiber, and the point where the light reflects can be referred to as a reflection point. At each reflection point within a conventional optical fiber, there is a risk of power loss of the optical signal which can reduce the distance the light can travel along the conventional optical fiber. Additionally, each reflection point can also introduce a risk of optical interference, which can produce a loss of optical signal quality.
In conventional optical networking, a conventional optical node may use a conversion from an optical signal, to an electrical signal, and back to an optical signal in order to provide routing and switching in the conventional optical networking. For example, a conventional switch may convert an incoming optical signal into an electrical signal, process the electrical signal, and generate another optical signal in order to propagate optical communication to the next hop. However, this conversion from optical to electrical to optical can decrease processing speed, increase network latency, and increase the possibility of communication errors. Additionally, conventional optical networking uses the polarization of light to carry one bit of information per photon. As a result, conventional optical networking may lack the ability to handle data transfer rates at terabit per second speeds while also achieving and/or maintaining low network latency for network communication.